Heavyweight Barrel Aged Old Salty

Formerly brewed at Heavyweight Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Ocean Township, New Jersey USA

25 oz bottle, 2005 vintage, via BA BeerBeing. Pours a slightly hazy dark mahogany brown under a foamy and creamy one finger beige head. Fairly active carbonation retains the head well. Aroma is very nice, more beer than barrel. Thick toffee, caramel, vanilla, nougat, light bourbon, light alcohol, raisins, figs, and tobacco. There’s alot going on in the nose. The flavor is quite mellow for such a big beer. Sweet toffee and caramel up front with light bourbon and oak. Finishes with fig, raisin, alcohol, and some oak tannins. Mouthfeel is fairly thick and full bodied but doesn’t even approach cloying or sticky. Perfect soft fine carbonation. Finishes with a little bit of a dusty note late on. This was truely great. A very big improvement over the regular Old Salty. Very minimal alcohol flavor, making it eminantly drinkable. Easily the best Heavyweight product I’ve tasted.

Bottle at Tom’s house courtesy of Jamie and Ryan. Good cats. Lots of BA old salty for me. This beer surprised me too. Was not a huge fan of the aged regular Old Salty I had a few months back, but this is tasting really good. Sweet, ripe fruits, brown sugar, oak, bourbon. Chewy throughout, yet very smooth going down. tasty taste.

Bottle brought to the Carolina tasting by Magjayran and Frumpty. Thanks guys. This one is one that I have wanted to have for a long time, and suddenly there was two bottles infront of me there. The beer pours out a dark brown color with a big thick yellow head on it. Smell is fruity, sweet, vanilla, nuts, just a slight hint of bourbon, but no real hop aroma. Taste is sweet and smooth and the bourbon really adds depth to it. Is this beer really old salty just put into a barrel? I would almost doubt it. This tastes nothing like the 2003 old salty I had, and that is a good thing. This beer is solid, very good, and very worthy of its high ranking among barley wines. Great stuff, and one of the highlights of the evening for me. Thanks a lot guys.

A malty and fruity aroma. Pours amber color with a white head. Texture is fabulous. soft carbonation. Flavor is quite complex. It is somewhat salty thought probably from suggestion. It tastes a lot like pineapple or coconut. I can’t figure out the difference because i eat neither and i’m drunk. i think it’s pineapple because it tastes like a juice and who would drink coconut juice unless your stranded on an island? As for the barrel age? Definitely does not taste like bourbon. maybe there’s some vanilla in there. Perhaps the best result of the aging is the mellowing and blending of flavors and the texture. I can’t taste the 11% either, but i can feel it. HOLLA. I have to admit until this beer i thought heavyweight deserved to go out of business. Afterthought, this tastes exactly like Alesmith Old Numbskull.

thanks nhorween. most barleywine smelling thing ever. i was expecting it to be salty. both really hoppy and malty aroma. definitely tons of caramel. wow. extremely sweet, but not puckeringly so. tons of flavor. i immediately love it. texture is not particularly carbonated but that suits it well. appearance was a dark brown, pretty generic. not at all overwhelming flavor profile, mostly back-ended. not getting much wood out of it, but this is the most balanced in the way i want it barleywine i’ve ever had. nhorween said it’d be salty but it isn’t really. man. i often call really malty beers overpowering, but somehow this is just so fucking perfect.

2005 vintage...murky brown body with massive, pillowy head...aroma of sweet caramels and a sugary bourbon/oak complex...flavor is massive in sugary malts, vanilla and oak..very nice

2005 vintage, bottle from goldtwins. Murky sediment-laden dark brown-orange body, thick tan head, with overflowing carbonation. Massive bourbon aroma- huge oak and vanilla leaving a small corner of the maltbox for apple cider, toast, and caramels. Massive sweet, sweet, sweet body. Big brown sugars and toast, bubblegum, and tropical fruits go 8 rounds with the vanilla and coconut bourbon flavors...and eventually win. A rich, decadent beer, with the massive sugary, plummy notes becoming cloying. Sticky. Very good, but extreme.

The pour reveals a clear reddish color with a ring of offwhite lace. Splendid aroma of oak, spicy malt and hops. Superb flavor of oak, spicy malt, candied fruits and hops. The body is medium with a liquorous texture and gentle carbonation. Excellent.